Mayaki: In-fighting Within Opposition Parties Aided Tinubu’s Victory

A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Edo state, John Mayaki, in this interview with Adibe Emenyonu, reveals that some undercurrents including disagreements among the opposition parties ahead of the February 25, 2023 presidential poll paved the way for the victory of APC candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Tinubu has been declared the President-elect. Having served as the Edo State coordinator for APC Presidential Campaign Council, how were you able to manage the role and deliver on your core mandate, especially in the face of great pressure mounted from different quarters?

I think it is only right that I begin with my gratitude to the leadership of the APC-PCC for giving me the opportunity to serve at the level in Edo State. To answer your question on how I was able to serve as one of the media managers of the campaign amid unprecedented levels of disinformation and negative propaganda aimed at us by our opponents, I think it’s important to first establish the growing ability of the people to determine truth from falsehood. That played an important role and made our work in fact-checking the lies of the opponents and promoting the superior qualities of our candidate, as evidenced by facts and data, a lot easier.

Additionally, it also helped that Asiwaju  Tinubu had years of organically built grassroots popularity and familiarity. He is not a stranger at all to the people, and this is the case across the country. He is, of course, as you probably know a visionary leader who began his march to the Villa as far back as 1999 when he conceived a masterplan for Lagos and turned a dysfunctional state into a megacity and one of the largest economies in Africa.

Then you also have to factor in our organized party structure. We are present in all the wards in the country and have active organs, manned by experienced mobilizers, in virtually all the nooks and crannies of the country.

While the main opposition cannibalized itself, and Obi followed a divisive path with his greenhorns, we remained compact, grew our strength, and united to deliver the prize.

Finally, the availability of a smart and comprehensive manifesto meant that we could offer specific promises to key target groups, including students, traders, artisans and industry leaders, with a clear roadmap of how we intend to achieve the promises and a timeline of action.

No other party was able to do that and I believe this, and other other aforementioned factors, drove home the point that we were better prepared and had the best candidate.

Nigerians passed their verdict and we won. I believe strongly that our victory will be upheld by the court and Asiwaju’s administration will succeed.

The Labour Party and the PDP have both filed a petition at the Election Petition Tribunal challenging the victory of your party. Some other persons are also alleging that your principal, Bola Tinubu, is ill. Is he really ill and what do you make of the chances of the opposition in court?

I have also come across some concocted junk reports alleging that Bola Tinubu took ill and was flown to France before being taken to the UK. What I found interesting, and I think this is where any serious-minded person should know that these are just frivolous claims by those desperate to cast aspersions, was that the same people proceeded to report again that the same man they claimed was ill and battling for his life was actually meeting and scheming with government officials abroad. So which is it? The man they claimed he was meeting with was seen in his office and he attended Jumaat service the following day.

I also suffered from their falsehood as they went to town with an obviously fake report that I left my party and defected to the Labour Party.

Before then, the same people zeroed in on the outgoing President and claimed, comically, that he was replaced by a clone from Sudan.

It’s all hogwash, and I wish to place on record my distaste for such manner of contestation. It violates all known ethics and perhaps highlights the challenges that come with the absence of gatekeeping in the new media. The moderators of the platform must do more to curb disinformation, especially when it is spread within a network of accounts mimicking actions to amplify untruth.

But to answer your question directly, I think it is clear by now that Asiwaju Tinubu is in great physical shape and suffers no illness whatsoever. Don’t forget that they shouted the same propagandist nonsense during the campaign, but they were put to shame when the same man toured the entire country, traveling non-stop from state to state, covering more distances and hosting more events than even their own supposedly healthier candidate. Bola Tinubu is whole and strong. He has gone to rest after completing a rigorous campaign and will return to the country soon.

As for the court cases, that is not an unusual thing, especially in Nigeria. But I must emphasize that opposition have no case here. One of them has even demonstrated, quite sadly, that he doesn’t even understand what he is going to do in court. Not only does he not understand the difference between the BVAS and iRev, he also gave a funny interpretation of the acronyms that got many of his followers questioning why they followed him in the first place.

Before the election, the Muslim-Muslim nature of the APC’s ticket generated heated responses and inspired certain sentiments. In particular, Christian Pastors appeared to join the fray, with some of them issuing several controversial prophecies. Did you find this disappointing as a Christian?

Yes, I was disappointed by the actions of some clerics who allowed themselves to be used by those who knew that their only chance of victory could only come from dividing Nigerians. They branded our party ‘a Muslim party’ when, in reality, a Catholic Reverend Father was chosen to represent us in the Benue governorship election and he was supported to win.

We tried to get people to see beyond the divisive antics and look beyond the mode of the candidate’s preferred mode of worship.

That is personal to them. What is important to the public, and relevant to development, is their track record and leadership qualities. Hunger, cash crunch, and some of the other challenges the country is experiencing today don’t recognize religion. They don’t privilege one group or sect over the other. So who we should be looking for is who can solve these problems and set the country on the path of sustainable growth. Thankfully, the majority of Nigerians bought our message and agreed with us that competence is what should determine who leads.

Your party directly accused Peter Obi of the Labour Party of playing up religious and ethnic sentiments even after the elections. A few days ago, you also issued a press statement cautioning members of the LP from setting the country on fire. Can you explain how you think they are doing this?

It is an indisputable fact that Peter Obi played the politics of ‘where I am from’. While I understand that most politicians do whatever they can to win, I don’t think that anything is worth the stability and continued union of the country. As such, certain things should be off-bounds.

No responsible leader should be setting a section of the country against another just to win.

In fact, the drafters of our constitution tried to guard against this with the 25% spread requirement. It is to ensure that every president must be appealing to a broad section of Nigerians to win the position, not a village champion.

And that ultimately proved the Achilles heel of the Obi campaign, as they struggled to penetrate other regions, including the north where you have the largest chunk of the votes.

Obi also banked on the difficulty the country is presently experiencing with regards to the global economic downturn and the ill-thought naira redesign policy. As opposed to providing proper context so that people can have an informed understanding of the state of affairs and have productive conversations on the way forward, he hugged the populist lane, even going as far as backing the rushed naira redesign policy just because he calculated that the damage caused by the intervention will turn more Nigerians against our party and towards him.

He was willing to prolong the suffering of Nigerians just to win. That is bad and should never be repeated by other candidates in the future.

In the end, the opposition failed because father (Atiku) was separated from his son (Obi), and a house divided against itself cannot stand.

Looking at the coverage of the international media, we saw different headlines across several foreign outlets castigating the President-elect during the election. As a practicing journalist,

were you comfortable with that?

We also had a lot of foreign media outlets that not only predicted the victory of our candidate based on his greater popularity, but also commended his eventual emergence and the process that gave birth to it.

For example, a recent Washington Post editorial was full of praise for the country for completing yet another peaceful transition of power.

Others highlighted the President-elect’s credentials as an experienced financial expert, accomplished administrator, and pro-democracy activist.

In any case, the truth is that we must break free from the need to seek the validation of the foreign press or define ourselves and reality from their decontextualized reports. Many of them fail to adequately fund their African bureaus and they man it with barely experienced reporters who based their reports on comments gathered on social media, which is both unrepresentative and highly susceptible to the coordinated actions of fifth columnists.

There is also the challenge of journalists not knowing when to separate their personal bias from their professional obligations which require them to be objective and only report the facts. This is not limited to just the foreign press. It is also a local issue. We have, for instance, a situation in Nigeria where the journalist and anchor of a prominent television station takes delight in insulting his guests and never fails to hide his bias. He shows no respect for the ethics of the profession and it is really sad.

The same station eagerly broadcast a fake letter manufactured by some malicious actors claiming to be INEC. It just shows a lack of scrutiny, abandonment of ethical practice, and an alarming display of editorial bias.

Both Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar raised the issue of the said 25% requirement in the FCT and the alleged conviction of the President-elect in the United States. What do you make of these prayers?

The opposition is merely grasping at straws. Nigeria doesn’t operate a collegial electoral system and all votes from all parts of the country bear equal weight. To be elected President, you need the most number of votes and a 25% vote share in the two-third of the 37 states, considering that in this case, as clearly stipulated by the constitution, the FCT is to be considered one of the states. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu met both requirements and was declared winner by the electoral body. As previously said, it is my strong belief that the court will affirm his victory.

On the other subject of conviction in the United States, the prayer is based on disjointed analysis and absurd allegations put together by online rabble-rousers in their campaign of calumny. Don’t forget that the same people said he couldn’t enter the United States, until the President-elect showed proof of his valid entry visa to the country. Our leader carries no such burden.

He has a clean record and commands international respect. The world has congratulated Nigerians for making a sound choice, the majority of Nigerians are happy with their choice. It is time for the opposition to suspend their delusion and come to terms with reality.